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Toronto songwriters earn credits on Eminem’s new album

By Ashante InfantryEntertainment Reporter

Mon., June 21, 2010

A pair of Toronto songwriters has hit the big time with credits on Eminem’s new album Recovery.

Released Monday, the Detroit rapper’s seventh disc is being heralded as a return to form, with the clever, incendiary lyrics that made him the biggest selling artist of 2000-09, after last year’s tepid Relapse followed a sabbatical spent fighting drug addiction and mourning his murdered best friend.

And it’s got a big dose of Canadian content.

Liz Rodrigues and Erik Alcock, performers in their own right, who have previously penned songs for rappers Pitbull and Slaughterhouse, conceived the lyrics and melody of choruses on three of Recovery’s 17 tracks — “Won’t Back Down,” “25 To Life” and “Almost Famous.”

They share lead vocals in the band The New Royales with Vancouver-based Chin Injeti (formerly of Bass is Base) and American producer DJ Khalil. It was Khalil, signed to the Aftermath label of Eminem spar and executive producer Dr. Dre, who paved the way to Eminem. He produced the tracks they wrote, as well as one other on Recovery.

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“It is a big deal, how could it not be?” enthused Rodrigues, who also can be heard singing the recurring verses of “25 To Life” and “Almost Famous.” “To land on the album of somebody that respected as a writer . . . and people just love what he does.”

The 34-year-old songstress, who has a duet on Dan Hill’s current album, doesn’t mind that Eminem replaced her other demo vocals on “Won’t Back Down” with pop star Pink.

“I love hearing her on it, because there’s an edge that she has that gives it a little bit more of the powerful meaning behind it,” said Rodrigues of Pink’s interpretation of the lines — “You can sound the alarm/You can call out your guards/You can fence in your yard/You can pull all the cards/But I won’t back down.”

Is she conceding the American is a better singer?

“I wouldn’t even get into that, because I’m such a big fan of hers, I wouldn’t even try to compare. To hear her on something that I wrote is really exciting.”

Alcock, 27, a proficient musician and member of indie quartet We Are the Take is stoked that “Won’t Back Down” retains the same guitar riffs he recorded on the demo in his Annex apartment using the GarageBand software application. In a phone interview with the Toronto Star, he lauded Eminem’s flow and declined to critique the profane, misogynistic “I’m a s--- stain on the underwear of life” rhymes the rapper wrote around the chorus, but conceded, “I wouldn’t make fun of Michael J. Fox” given the mockery of the Parkinson’s afflicted actor in the tune.

While “Almost Famous,” is about the challenges of being a public figure, Eminem goes for bravado — “I stick my d--- in this game like a rapist” — rather than vulnerability, which the songwriters imbue with the chorus.

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“I think his expression, his interpretation is bang on for him,” said Rodrigues, whose “There Comes a Time” was recorded by Céline Dion in 2008. “It’s exactly who he is and what the hooks inspired him to write.”

She recalled coming up with the stanzas — “You dream of trading places/I have been changing faces” during a writing session in Los Angeles with Alcock, Injeti and Khalil.

“We were sitting around brainstorming and talking about being imprisoned by fame, like people like Eminem. We started to talk about having to change your appearance all the time and people wanting to be just like you all the time, but at the same time you’re trying to disguise who you are to not be noticed so you can have some kind of freedom.”

Alcock’s We Are the Take quartet had its “Montreal Love Song” used on an episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation. The track is more typical of the pop rock output of the performer, who began writing songs at 12 and signed his first publishing deal at 17.

“This hip-hop stuff I fell ass backwards into,” he explained. “Never in a million years did I see myself doing it, but it’s a lot of fun and it’s pretty cool. I don’t know what (the Eminem contributions) are going to mean financially; I know it takes quite a while for royalties to come dripping down the street.”

In the meantime, he continues to perform with We Are the Take (at the Drake Hotel July 2), to work on The New Royales mixtape and to try to figure out how to have Jay-Z record one of his songs.

“It’s a hell of a goal, but hey, I just got Eminem and I never thought that was going to happen.”

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